Translator: AnubisTL
Seeing everyone's stunned expressions, Fan Wei took a big gulp of Spirit Wine, grinned meaningfully, as if to say, "You'll all end up like this too."
"Then why not create a batch of armor specifically to protect our vulnerable bottoms?" Gu Feng asked curiously.
"When we first arrived, we did wear armor, but it didn't last long and got damaged. The army doesn't replace armor damaged outside of combat.
Of course, you could pay to have it made yourself. There are plenty of craftsmen in the army, but the key issue is we don't have the money!" Fan Wei spread his hands, his face bitter.
Gu Feng took the map from Wu Qi's hands and studied it carefully. After a while, he asked puzzledly, "Judging by the terrain, this place should be a paradise for many smugglers, right?"
"Exactly, you have a good eye!" Fan Wei said with a smirk. "This swamp spans the Great Chu and Great Li dynasties, shrouded in mist and overgrown with vines. The stationed forces are relatively weak, making it the preferred crossing point for smugglers."
"Here, even those in the Innate Realm can't fly for long, and those in the Postnatal Realm find it difficult to move through the swamp. Even if you spot a smuggler, you might not catch them. And even if you do, during the fight, if they realize they're outmatched, they'll immediately remove their Storage Ring and throw it into the swamp, destroying the evidence. Without evidence, you have no choice but to let them go."
Hearing this, Gu Feng immediately understood.
"It seems that guarding this place, it's hard to catch a smuggler red-handed throughout the year!"
"Brother Gu, most of you come from sects, right? Wouldn't it be better to stay there and cultivate? Why come to this godforsaken place to suffer?"
"No choice, the previous captain had a screw loose and bought the operating rights here for ten years!" Gu Feng said with a bitter face, while Chu Youhuan beside him looked up at the sky, acting as if it had nothing to do with her.
"You're in for a rough time." Fan Wei shook his head repeatedly.
"Brother Fan, do you have any advice?" Gu Feng handed over a bag of Spirit Stones, smiling as he asked.
"First, don't violate military discipline. The predecessors stationed here had an average tenure of less than two years because there was no profit to be made. They took risks and cooperated with smugglers, only for those smugglers to turn around and send anonymous letters to the military discipline office, getting them killed."
"Second, your life is the most important. Don't take risks just to catch someone..."
"..."
"Good luck to you!"
"Take care, Brother Fan!"
After Fan Wei and the others completed the handover and left, everyone looked at each other, the atmosphere heavy.
"What do we do?" Chu Youhuan walked over and asked softly.
"Deal with it!" Gu Feng said irritably.
"I know why they're so dark. Without pills, they had to forcibly absorb the toxic Spiritual Energy in the air, which caused this."
"No way, I don't want to turn into a dark kid. How will I ever get married?"
"I'm thinking about which of these two remarkable achievements will come first: becoming a dark kid or developing calluses on my butt."
"Brother, you're overthinking it. The real question is whether we can even leave here alive."
"Elder Liu must know the inside story and deliberately hid it."
"We've been screwed."
"..."
Everyone whispered among themselves, looking dejected. Some female cultivators had tears in their eyes, almost crying, as the thought of becoming dark kids and developing calluses on their bottoms was too much for them.
"Wu Qi, calculate how much it would cost to create protective gear for everyone here to shield our bottoms," Gu Feng asked seriously.
"Probably no craftsman has ever specifically made such protective gear. The materials needed would be about one-fifth of a full set of armor. Since it's only for defense, the cost would be lower. If you want it to last, it should be made into a low-grade Spirit Artifact, costing about 100,000 Spirit Stones each."
100,000 each? That would be 70 million?
Gu Feng felt a headache coming on. "Let's tough it out for a while. Once we make some money, the first thing we'll do is create protective gear."
"For now, during night rest, we'll take turns. Half of us will tie our weapons to our bottoms in the first half of the night, and the other half will switch in the second half."
"Senior Sister Chu, you're fast. Here's 10 million. Please go and buy a month's worth of food. Just roasted meat, and get some Spirit Wine too!"
Gu Feng gritted his teeth and took out another 10 million, sending Yan Xixi out with Chu Youhuan to buy some pills.
Spending 20 million on food and pills made everyone's eyes turn red with envy, thinking, "If I had 20 million, who would come to this hellhole to suffer?"
"Brothers and sisters, don't worry. As the marshal of the 'Swamp Army,' I won't let you suffer!"
The Swamp Army was the name Gu Feng had given them. Given his financial prowess, no one objected.
Gu Feng had thought about giving up, but doing so would mean wasting the month and a half spent on the journey. Returning to the Sunset Glow Sect without a destination would make his goal of defeating Shu Yuheng by the end of the year a huge joke.
"Since there are many smugglers here, there must be a way to crack down on them."
By the time Chu Youhuan and Yan Xixi returned, it was almost evening. In fact, there wasn't much difference between day and night here, with visibility being about the same.
After dinner, they began to rest according to the planned schedule.
Sitting on vines with Spirit Artifacts under their bottoms, they were constantly harassed by demonic insects, making life miserable.
Except for A Fei, almost no one could sleep deeply, waking up every incense stick's worth of time, suffering greatly.
After an unknown period, Chu Youhuan suddenly opened her eyes, listened intently for a few breaths, and then charged into the mist.
This commotion woke everyone up, and they all drew their weapons, on high alert.
After a while, Chu Youhuan returned.
"Did you find a smuggler?" Gu Feng went up to ask.
"Yes," Chu Youhuan replied softly.
"What realm is the opponent in?" Gu Feng didn't ask if they caught anyone. Such a foolish question was obviously not suitable for a commander to ask.
"About the fifth or sixth level of the Postnatal Realm."
"Did they cultivate a special Martial Skill?" Gu Feng's heart stirred. For Chu Youhuan, with her strength, to fail to catch a fifth or sixth level Postnatal Realm cultivator, the opponent must be extraordinary.
"Their combat power might not be that strong, but they've specifically cultivated movement and concealment techniques, and their alertness is very high. The mist in the swamp already hinders detection, making it hard to catch them," Chu Youhuan said with some reluctance.
The atmosphere on the scene was low, everyone hanging their heads like frostbitten cucumbers, listless. If even the strongest among them, Chu Youhuan, couldn't catch a smuggler, they had no chance.
"It's okay, we'll catch one next time!" Gu Feng comforted with a smile.
In the following days, not only at night but even during the day, traces of smugglers could be found. However, the problem was that they were as slippery as eels, impossible to catch.
Now, even Chu Youhuan, who had been initially enthusiastic and confident, lost her spirit. She sat on the vines every day, drinking and eating meat, starting to slack off.
"This can't go on!"
Gu Feng knew that if this continued, the team would surely collapse. He had high hopes for the swamp, expecting it to bring him boundless wealth.
"Gu Feng, don't rush. There will always be a way," Yan Xixi came over to comfort him.
"How can I not rush? If this continues, next month's food will be a problem. I'm almost out of Spirit Stones," Gu Feng said with a bitter smile.
"Senior Zhu, do you have any strategies?"
"Yes!"
"Let's hear it." Hearing this, Gu Feng's heart was filled with joy.
"Buy me a batch of Thunder Attribute Natural Treasures, let my strength skyrocket, and then I'll help you catch smugglers."
"Great strategy, great strategy." Gu Feng rolled his eyes and stopped paying attention to her.
Gu Feng furrowed his brows, sitting on the vines, holding a roasted leg, tearing at it absentmindedly.
Plop—
In a moment of carelessness, the roasted leg in his hand fell into the swamp and disappeared in an instant.
An apple led Newton to discover gravity, and a roasted leg sparked an idea in Gu Feng's mind, lifting his spirits.
Catching smugglers with real skill, with luck, might nab one or two in ten days or half a month, but it wouldn't stop them from throwing their Storage Rings into the swamp, rendering the effort futile.
Rather than risking life and limb, running around in hardship, why not wait for the rabbit by the tree?
"Craftsmen, are there any craftsmen here?"
At this, everyone looked at each other. Who would want to come here to suffer if they knew how to craft?
"I learned a bit when I was young, but I didn't master it!" Liu Sanbang, with dark circles under his eyes, wobbled over.
"Liu Sanbang, what's wrong with you? Haven't you been sleeping well these days?" Liu Sanbang had lost a lot of weight since entering the swamp, his face pale and devoid of energy.
"The vines have thorns, but my Spirit Artifact, the Wolf Tooth Club, also has thorns, and they're sharper than those on the vines. How can I use it to cushion my bottom? I haven't slept well for days," Liu Sanbang said weakly.
Everyone looked at him suspiciously, glancing at the Wolf Tooth Club on his shoulder and the densely packed, gleaming steel spikes, feeling relieved that they hadn't chosen the Wolf Tooth Club as their weapon.
"Hahaha—"
The gloomy atmosphere was swept away as everyone laughed heartily.
Gu Feng also shook his head with a smile, then his expression turned serious as he began to describe the Spirit Artifact he had in mind.
"A trap-type Spirit Artifact that can trap those at the peak of the Postnatal Realm, is concealed, won't be triggered by demon beasts, has no gaps, and is like a large net?" Liu Sanbang muttered to himself, starting to think.
"Such a Spirit Artifact could be crafted, but the cost would definitely be high. Even if it's not a Superior-grade Spiritual Weapon, the price wouldn't be lower than one."
"It also depends on the size of the Spirit Artifact. If it's very large, it might even be more expensive than a top-grade Spirit Artifact!" Wu Qi also came over, sharing his opinion.
"If we were to make one about ten feet square, how much would it cost?"
"Probably between 2 to 3 million! The main issue is your requirement to exclude demonic insects, which is hard to achieve," Wu Qi said in a low voice.
"We could set a weight limit. The demon beasts here aren't large, and cultivators, no matter how light, rarely weigh less than a hundred pounds. Why not set a weight trigger condition of over eighty pounds?" Despite Liu Sanbang's burly appearance, his brain was quite sharp.
Hearing this, Gu Feng's eyes immediately lit up.
"Brothers and sisters, I've decided to create five of the Spirit Artifacts we just discussed, to catch smugglers crossing the border like fishing with a net.
Once we catch some smugglers, the profits, aside from buying food and pills, will all be used to purchase more of these Spirit Artifacts.
Eventually, everyone will have one, and after confiscating smuggled goods, you'll get a five percent commission!"
"Don't think five percent is little. Later on, I'll give you a base salary. Even if you're unlucky and don't catch any smugglers, you'll still have resources to cultivate. If you're in the Qi Refining Realm, I'll give you resources for the Postnatal Realm, and so on. For example, our Senior Sister Chu, I'll give her resources for the Spirit Nurturing Realm!"
"Not just that, I'll later invest heavily to create a few Spirit Boats that can move quickly through the swamp. When you find a smuggler caught in the net, you'll pilot the Spirit Boat, zoom over, and solemnly announce to them, 'You're under arrest.'"
"Finally, I'll build a war fortress in the swamp. By then, we'll be awesome, eating, drinking, and having fun in the fortress every day, only going out to catch someone when they're caught in the net."
"..."
"Our Swamp Army will become the envy of everyone on the border of the Chu Dynasty!!!"
"By then, not only will you have a formal military rank, but also endless wealth and a large group of subordinates!"
Before even making any money, Gu Feng started painting a rosy picture for them, making everyone howl with excitement, feeling that hope and a fortune in Spirit Stones were just around the corner.
Action was taken immediately. After rousing everyone, Gu Feng left the swamp with Chu Youhuan to find craftsmen in nearby military camps.
(End of the Chapter)
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